National Theatre in Nis
Modernist 1939 playhouse on Sindjelic Square, the main drama stage of southern Serbia.
Theatre in Nis reaches back to amateur companies of the 1880s, but the present building belongs to the late 1930s. The initiative came from Marko Novakovic, ban of the Morava Banovina, and the foundation stone was laid on 27 June 1937. The architect was Vsevolod Tatarinov, a Nis resident of Russian origin, who produced a restrained modernist block measuring roughly fifty-four by thirty-four metres. The theatre opened on 1 January 1939 with Milorad Sapcanin's play The Building of Ravanica.
The main front faces a ceremonial plateau where Sindjelic Square widens towards Vozd Karadjordje Street, approached by a semicircular stair and a covered landing carried on four pillars beneath the upper balcony. Further wings were added in 1946 to a design by Aleksandar Medvedev, another Nis architect of Russian origin. The company works on a main stage and a studio stage, playing classic and contemporary drama in Serbian, and hosts guest productions and festival programmes through the season.
Highlights
- Modernist 1939 building by Vsevolod Tatarinov
- Semicircular entrance stair under a four-pillar portico
- Main stage and studio stage in repertory
- Opened with Sapcanin's The Building of Ravanica
